If there was a black mark on Chris Weidman’s middleweight title defense over Anderson Silva at UFC 168, it came in the aftermath. That’s when audio surfaced of somebody in Weidman’s corner saying "f--- him" as Silva writhed on the floor in pain after having gruesomely broken his leg.

Many people thought it was Weidman’s trainer and coach Ray Longo who’d said it, as Longo’s voice is clear on the recording throughout. But it turns out it was Longo’s other champion, Matt Serra, who was in the corner in Las Vegas that night too.

The former UFC welterweight champion Serra appeared on the Monday edition of The MMA Hour not only to confess it was him who said the "classless" thing, but to clear the air on the matter.

And the main thing he wanted to clear up was: It wasn’t how it sounded.

"The first time I heard [the recording], I thought, ‘oh man, the big guy [Longo] got in trouble,’" he told host Ariel Helwani. "But then I saw it, and I know how that looks. When you see [the break], and you’re watching it, you’re hearing the commentary as the fight’s going on.

"I did not see, and none of us saw, what happened. We saw him just drop. I didn’t see Chris throw a strike. You know, Patrick Cote, when he fought Anderson and his leg seized up, everything happened so fast. And you’ve got to understand, we are in battle mode. And we’re a tight group, we all care about each other. And you’re fighting Anderson Silva, and the guy can throw a front kick out of nowhere and the fight can be over."

Serra said from the corner’s vantage point they only saw Silva go down with some kind of injury.

"When this happened, when [Anderson] dropped, we didn’t see what you guys saw at home. We just saw him drop. So I’ve seen a thousand sparring sessions where a guy kicks an elbow, or a guy kicks a knee and the guy drops and the sparring session’s over or, if it’s a fight, then the fight is over. I’m not thinking the guy’s leg’s in half.

"So when that happened it felt like an eternity…but it happened very fast, it’s all in the moment. So I was like, ‘did we win? Oh f--- it, good!’ But it came out, ‘oh good, f--- him, we won.’ But man, listen, Anderson, not only is he a legend, but anybody -- it wasn’t me watching that thing break, I didn’t even see until the next day how that thing broke, his leg. We’re not heartless pricks, we’re not bad sportsmen. He’s got kids, he’s got people that love him."

Serra said he called Silva’s longtime manager Ed Soares, and told him exactly the same thing, and that Soares. He made it clear he didn’t want things to be misconstrued.

"If I hurt anybody’s feelings, his kid, his wife, I do apologize. It did not come out of a bad place, or a negative place, it was ‘oh good, •••• it, it’s over,’ that type of thing. Again man, that’s how it went down.

"It is what it is, I said it, so why would I let the whole corner get blamed? I know it sounds awful, but there’s no way I saw that guy’s leg in half and thought, oh good, f--- him,’ it wasn’t like that.’"

Serra also addressed the people coming at him for the incident, namely former heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, who went after him on Twitter for being unsportsmanlike.

"You ever talk to the guy? Moron," Serra said. "A total moron. You know what’s funny about him? Even when he was the champion, and he wore his belt out to the clubs, he never knew why he wasn’t the face of the UFC. Listen, I’m no Georges St-Pierre when it comes to looks, but it’s one thing if you look like that and you have a heart of gold and are a nice guy. But this guy is a piece of s--- man."